Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Good. I will download.

Can be good. Can be good.

Note: This uses the Hotel Dream tileset, but for whatever reason the author renamed it to “HotelD Rhotel.j2t”. You can get the file under that name at http://www.jazz2online.com/downloads/5700/hotel-bypretty-in-pink/

Okay, this level is horrible. It doesn’t have a background, which is only a big problem in single player, but looks bad regardless of game mode. Thanks to the mystifying decision to upload this as “Multiple” I can’t even tell whether this is supposed to be a multi- or singleplayer level. My guess is multiplayer, as it doesn’t have any enemies or an end boss. In fact, it doesn’t really have any events at all, save for a few warps.

You start in a room which loudly shouts WELCOME GEST (I’m assuming “guest” here) at you and then warps you to the rightmost part of the level. There isn’t a whole lot to do there. You can run to the left side of the level, passing what’s supposedly meant to be a swimming pool, to reach the “hose” (house). The house is equally disappointing, with a few basic constructions, a room at the upper level and a warp to the roof. But why would you want to go to the roof? There’s nothing to do there. All in all this is no fun to play. There’s no weapons or other pickups, there’s nothing that allows for tactical duels, and there’s only a few platforms.

Of course the level doesn’t look good either. As said, there’s no background, but there’s no other eyecandy to speak of either. Even levels such as these, which I suppose fall in the broad “hotel” category, should be nice to look at; it improves the experience a lot. There’s no music either; makes it even more boring. There’s plenty of music on Jazz2Online and included with the game itself, so you really have no excuse for forgetting it.

Alex, I’m disabling uploading new levels for you until you show me you’ve improved. Not a single level by you has gotten a positive review, and you’re not doing anything with the feedback people give you. When you have made a level that is not just fun for you to play, but also for others, feel free to contact me and I’ll make it possible for you to put it on the site again. Until then, please try to practice a bit. Look at other levels, see what makes them good, and try to use this knowledge in your own works. Good luck!

Ok, sorry cooba!
But anyway, people, dont download it please. It may be boring.

I wrote a review for this a long time ago, but having played the episode again recently I must say my opinion significantly changed. Therefore, I’m writing a new one.

I should start with this – Episode One is ambitious. From the way the story is interwoven with the gameplay to the size of the levels to the variety of puzzles, it’s obvious that in this episode EvilMike attempted to push the boundaries of JJ2’s singleplayer game mode. And in a lot of ways, he succeeded; I think this is the first time I’ve seen an episode with so much attention for the story that didn’t compromise the gameplay because of it. Another Story, for example, had a very well-presented story but as a result mostly consisted of (sometimes interactive) cutscenes, resulting in disappointing gameplay. Here both get equal attention and the episode really shines in this regard.

Already in the download description, on top of this page, the player is warned that this is a very difficult episode. And indeed it is; I often died and when I did manage to complete a level, I rarely had more than one heart left. Apart from the usual enemies you’ll see a lot of death pits and spike balls in the levels, which certainly keeps you on your toes all the time. Even if you’ve got a blaster powerup and lots of fast-fire you can’t simply go running around holding space, as you’ll inevitably run into some spikes or a bottomless pit sooner or later.

In fact, even when you don’t run around like a madman you’ll get hurt sooner or later. The problem with the episode and its difficulty is that there are far too many obstacles you simply can’t avoid. Or, you can avoid them, but you’d have to know they are there first. Now that wouldn’t be a problem if you had an endless supply of lives and could start over at a save point without punishment, but lives will often be in short supply. You can’t save manually either, as most levels are too big for this and will crash if you attempt to do so.

Take, for example, the following situation (from the “The Castle” level):

Those blocks I’m about to land on are collapsing blocks. So basically, unless I somehow have superhuman reflexes and manage to switch to TNT the microsecond before the bats noticed me, I’m guaranteed to lose a heart here. This isn’t the only occurence of such problems. I’m all for challenging enemies, but this is simply frustrating. And difficulty is good; frustration isn’t.

It’s a pity that levels are spoiled by places like this, where EvilMike tried to push it just a little bit too far with regards to making things challenging. Mostly, enemies are genuinely well-placed and used in such ways that in spite of their very rudimentary AI they are hard to kill. For example, often a bat will be hiding in a small alcove, making it impossible to stay a safe distance away while shooting. In such cases however the player gets the chance to assess the situation beforehand and has a fair chance.

There’s also a few occasions where I simply didn’t know what to do. The final battle against the Rocket Turtle is an example; the previous level was a chase, where the Rocket Turtle flew away while you had to get to the exit. Assuming the next level would be the same, since again the Rocket Turtle quickly flew out of sight, I tried to make it to the end of the level as fast as possible, only to be warped to a death pit. Some more instruction wouldn’t have hurt. I have to applaud using the Rocket Turtle at all though, as its a rarely used and erratic enemy and was used well in this case (when you figured out what you were supposed to do).

Another problem of mine with regards to the difficulty might be a matter of taste; the overabundance of spike balls. EvilMike made a lot of jumping challenges involving spike balls. As a result, those often require very precise timing to cross them without getting hurt or even dying (the recoil of getting hurt often making you fall into a pit full of spikes). In my opinion those were often way too hard though, requiring such perfect timing that I often gave up altogether and resorted to giving myself invisibility with cheats. As said, this might be a matter of taste; I did enjoy the parts involving ordinary enemies, where I just got to shoot stuff.

During the parts where the episode isn’t plagued by frustratingly impossible challenges, however, it’s pretty good. Depending on the tileset, levels look gorgeous. Strangely, while they use the same tileset, the “Deserto City” levels look a lot better than the “Temple” levels. Whereas the City looks like a proper desert settlement the temple gives the impression of boring, repetitive brown blocks without much decoration. It gets better once you go underground, but the “daylight” temple parts simply don’t look that good. Having created the tileset himself, I imagine the Temple tileset was an obvious choice for EvilMike, but it might’ve been a better choice to go for a tileset like Persian Paradise here, or at least an updated version of Temple (which was years old already when this episode was made).

Like the graphics, the music was generally well-chosen. The soundtrack mostly consists of techno tracks, which might seem a bit strange given the fact that this episode mostly plays in the desert, but the music fits well and helps establishing an “alien invasion” theme.

It is hard to rate this episode. It’s got a moderately interesting story that is tightly interwoven with the gameplay in a way that we haven’t seen before. It looks excellent and sounds great too. Yet, at times it’s so frustratingly (and unfairly) difficult that I found it hard to genuinely enjoy playing it. Perhaps you’re a better player, or one that doesn’t particularly mind insane difficulty. Even if you aren’t, this is an episode you should certainly get, if only to appreciate the beautiful levels and well-told story. Expect to smash your keyboard a few times while playing, though.

Very good!

I like it.

Problems…

Cool!

Done, mr. Cooba.
Now there’s no commercial track.

lol…Not bad for novice! :D
But anyway its still uninterested!
[EDITED]I mean this is boring…Very boring…

Probably among the very best packs uploaded to this site. There isn’t much to say that hasn’t already been said, although I still think the difficulty level of these levels is insane. A fitting end to a pretty remarkable series of episodes.

Yeah the pack might be unfinished, and most of the levels are pretty standard on their own, but as a whole this pack is fun as hell to play. It’s got this oldskool platformer feeling and the design is executed brilliantly. It’s a shame that only a few levels are finished, as it makes you wonder how awesome the rest of the pack would’ve been.

One word. Awesome. :)

I used TR1 and I believe this is good.

Alright, I’m going to make this brief, as usual.

I reinstalled JJ2 on the new laptop I bought just to play this level pack, really. So, after going through the trouble of downloading TSF (sorry, guys), I finally installed this.

So, let me just start out by saying, this pack has no apparent storyline, and no theme other than pretty much you’re drugged up the whole time, and hallucinating. If you’re looking for a solid storyline or a full episode, this is not for you. If you’re like me and just want to play through some JJ2 levels and kill lots of badguys like the old days, this is definitely what you’re looking for.

My favorite thing about this pack is that it’s just so old school, and at the same time, it’s not. Most quality single player levels these days are very story oriented, and rely on new concepts. This level pack, however, will take you back ten years with the added bonus of some relatively newly found JCS tricks, and absolutely gorgeous graphics design.

The difficulty of these levels is insane. I played the pack on medium, and I found myself getting pretty frustrated at times. I haven’t actively played JJ2 in at least four or five years, but I’d say I’m still really good at this game, especially single player. And let me tell you, this pack is hard.

Summary; this is a pack of lengthy levels that are all pretty much unrelated. If you want to play some old school style levels with a new feel to them, this is absolutely for you. Think of it like playing New Super Mario Bros. If you’re not so much into that idea, this might not be for you.

Overall I’m rating this 10.. Because Blacky deserves it.

This is great level! I like campy levels XD! This my favourite level impressed me with good gameplay and good places for camps! Awesome tileset by Disguise and good levelmaking experience from Evilmike made awesome and simple level! xD Disagree with me, because some ppl hates camps and my words looks bad and weirdry, but i wanna say what im just like this lvl! Well done, Mike!
^_

Note: Looks like if devres great, other levels will looks great too! Sorry for bad english! :)

Flying.xm? Huh..? xD I think this music better looking in evenings, or mountains, or morning, or etc levels… (xD sorry for bad english)

I downloaded this tileset and I liked it.
Congrats.

(Sorry for my English, I’m Turkish.)

I using this tileset for a long time, and I like it.
Very ande very funny.